What Kind Of Driver Are You?

by **BabyPeanut** » Mon 07 Mar 2005, 20:32:30

Since we all know
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/MellodyHobson/story?id=556006

Gas mileage decreases rapidly above 60 miles per hour, and if you drive 70 mph instead of 55 mph you could lose up to 17 percent of your car's fuel economy â€” which is how many miles a vehicle actually drives using a given amount of gas on either the highway and in the city. In fact, each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is equal to paying an additional $.10 per gallon of gas. To maintain the speed limit and save gas, try using cruise control (if you have it) or just stick to the limit.

What do we drive like.

by **Jack** » Mon 07 Mar 2005, 21:00:37

None of the above...I travel the speed limit. If that's 55, I go 55. If it's 70, then I go 70.

Plus, I have a radar detector.

by **lowem** » Mon 07 Mar 2005, 21:33:03

Not much chance for me to go above 90 km/h (~55 mph), roads are pretty crowded here in Singapore.

On the occasional trips on the Malaysian North-South highway to visit relatives, I go up to speed limit + "a little bit", 120 km/h at most (~75 mph).

by **TrueKaiser** » Mon 07 Mar 2005, 22:59:38

at or below the speedlimit with more then enough space between me and any car/suv

by **pilferage** » Mon 07 Mar 2005, 23:41:33

At 55mph I get 37mpg in my 92 v6 camry. Going faster implies less efficiency, less efficiency implies more gas, more gas implies greater cost, greater cost implies more work! :shock:

I hate working! :-D

by **Barbara** » Tue 08 Mar 2005, 04:27:25

Dunno.
I'm tired of all this mph, mpg, yardes, miles, farenheit.

by **energyaddict** » Tue 08 Mar 2005, 04:42:44

Is that poll only desinged for the US folks out there? There should be at least one option with 3 digits...

Usually I travel the speed limit + 10 to 20 km/h (the cost of getting caught is below USD 50,- in Germany). But there are some roads without a speed limit - what should I do there? Right: Max out the car to approx. 210 km/h. I am not the fastest on the road... Milege gets worse on top speed but there are only few chances to travel top speed - so what....

Usual over all consumption of my car is 7.5 l / 100 km; that is 31.36 mpg - not to bad at all... Limiting myself in speed is getting the car to 6.5 l / 100km or 36.18 mpg.

If there are the first petrol lines due to supply shortages in Germany, I will upgrade the car to bifuel use - using compressed natural gas as an alternative fuel. Germany is just building up a supply network for that and cng is approx half the cost of premium gas. (And the peak in world natural gas supply will be occur some year later...)

by **peaknik** » Tue 08 Mar 2005, 06:25:53

I used to be a speed freak, but as I grew older, I stopped speeding all the time. My car is still somewhat "sportive", but now I drive with the car's computer displaying the average consumption, I get from 7,5 to 9 litres / 100 Km

by **BabyPeanut** » Tue 08 Mar 2005, 08:05:16

energyaddict wrote:Is that poll only desinged for the US folks out there?

de-singed? No, you can sing if you want.

by **BabyPeanut** » Tue 08 Mar 2005, 08:10:07

Barbara wrote:Dunno.
I'm tired of all this mph, mpg, yardes, miles, farenheit.

Code: Select all: $ units 2084 units, 71 prefixes, 32 nonlinear units You have: miles You want: km * 1.609344 / 0.62137119 $ bc Copyright 1991-1994, 1997, 1998, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This is free software with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. For details type `warranty'. 80 * 1.609344 128.747520 70 * 1.609344 112.654080 60 * 1.609344 96.560640 55 * 1.609344 88.513920

Sorry I can't edit the poll. I could start over with dual units if people are interested.

by **eastbay** » Tue 08 Mar 2005, 08:17:45

I occasionally commute with a co-worker, when our schedules are the same... which is rarely. But when we do and it's my turn to drive this guy once got on my case to drive faster... I'm the guy in the slow lane at 60 mph tops.

The first time commuting he asked me why I drive so darn slow. I told him. He apparently doesn't want to hear that speech again so he now doesn't raise that question.

EastBay

by **k_semler** » Tue 08 Mar 2005, 21:11:49

Depends on how late I am go go to work. This morning, I only had 20 miniutes to clock on, and I live 30 miles away from work. I went 85 MPH. Normally, if I am not late, I drive 58 MPH. Thank god for Radar/Laser detectors! Hmm, come to think of it, that may be why I have fallen from 17 MPG to 13.2 MPG. Maybe I should slow my ass down on the roadway.

by **Ludi** » Tue 08 Mar 2005, 21:36:19

I tend to drive much faster than I should.

by **Itch** » Wed 09 Mar 2005, 02:22:08

I rarely go above fifty-five miles per hour at any time. Even rush hour.

by **tmazanec1** » Wed 09 Mar 2005, 07:53:20

What speed is peak efficiency? Obviously, if you go 0 mph you are just running the engine and burning up gas.

by **OldSprocket** » Wed 09 Mar 2005, 08:16:01

tmazanec1 wrote:What speed is peak efficiency? Obviously, if you go 0 mph you are just running the engine and burning up gas.

Click and Clack, on Car Talk (radio & newspapers) here in the states have a simple version of "most efficient speed". They say accelerate to the highest gear and run the engine slowly in that gear. Not so slow as "lugging" the engine, but smooth engine operation. Their logic is that this provides the most distance for each engine revolution while not climbing too high on the wind-resistance curve. This works well for the average car; exotic cars and some trucks may have transmissions with ratios that are too high.

I drive the speed limit, or within 5 mph of it (8kph). I have been offered a 12,000 mile car for cheap and looked up its mileage rating: 25 to 33mpg (11 to 14 km/L). I was bumbed until I found out that that's the rating of what I drive now although I get 30 to 37 mpg (13 to 16 km/L).

by **oowolf** » Fri 11 Mar 2005, 17:27:44

EX-driver, as of May 1997. No vehicles, no phony license, no "registration" tax, no "plates", no insurance mafia extortion, nothing but FREEDOM.

by **novaz04** » Tue 22 Mar 2005, 07:23:32

Yes, cars aren't worth their costs and expenses. I heard from somewhere that bicycle's traveled almost as fast as cars for town/city travel. So I say public transport or bicycle riding is the go.

by **Ryan** » Tue 22 Mar 2005, 09:48:54

I couldn't vote on the poll I'm afraid. I walk on my own two feet back and forth to work, to the store, etc. At times I ride a bike but mostly I walk. My wife walks too.

by **Frank** » Wed 23 Mar 2005, 21:07:59

What OldSprocket said is about right. Slow acceleration typically isn't helpful as gasoline engines have better efficiency under load. Using more throttle reduces engine pumping losses. Get there quickly and cruise at a moderate speed.

Major forces when driving are rolling resistance and aerodynamic drag. I'll bet 45 mph was stated as aerodynamics doesn't usually start becoming significant until 50-60 mph, depending on the car. Of course each vehicle is different and unique and I think optimum driving speed would depend on specific engine design. Passenger cars are designed to work properly at reasonable speeds and factors such as camshaft overlap, gearing will be optimized for typical road speeds.

New cars use "mileage" tires (less rolling resistance) and typically specify low-viscosity engine oil to reduce internal losses.